My co-pending application, Ser. No. 517,434, HAY BALE HANDLING MACHINE, discloses a vehicle mounted hay bale transport device involving a single finger for engaging a bale on its axial center wherein the bale is arranged with its longitudinal axis parallel to the travel path of the vehicle. While provision is made for picking up the bale and transporting it no provision is made for unrolling the bale. Thus it is desired to provide a pickup and transport device that is capable of picking up a round bale of hay and transporting it and then unrolling the bale, if desired. It would also be desirable to support the bale at its opposite axial ends and have it positioned with its longitudinal axis extending transversely to the line of travel of the vehicle.